No trial, just continued pain for the Membreys

Roger Membrey has known worse mornings than yesterday's over the past 3008 days.

It has been that long since his daughter Elisabeth, 22, vanished, believed murdered, in Ringwood on the night of December 6, 1994.

"There are plenty of worse days," Mr Membrey said. For his wife, Joy, there is no distinction. "Every day's a bad day," she said.

No one has been charged with Elisabeth's murder, but one small piece of a large, seemingly impenetrable wall seemed to have loosened a little last July.

Jennifer Kate Dewing was at that time accused of providing a false alibi to the main murder suspect, her former flatmate Robert Lindsay Fry.");document.write("

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Mr Fry, 35, was a bouncer at the Manhattan Hotel where Ms Membrey worked and where she was last seen alive.

Melbourne Magistrates Court was told recently when Dewing faced a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice that Mr Fry had made statements, been formally interviewed and subjected to telephone intercepts.

Police alleged that Dewing, a law secretary who returned from London to face the charge, lied in statements about Mr Fry's movements and whereabouts around the time of Ms Membrey's disappearance.

A witness claimed Dewing told her that if the police "break me they break the case". The court also heard that Dewing was offered an indemnity to change her evidence.

To the great disappointment of the Membreys, a senior Victorian magistrate ruled after a committal hearing yesterday that there was insufficient evidence for Dewing, 28, to stand trial on the charge.

Deputy chief magistrate Jelena Popovic found that the inference the prosecution sought to rely on was merely speculative or in the realms of conjecture.

Ms Popovic sympathised with the plight of the couple, telling them that as a member of the public she had observed their pain over the past nine years. Ms Popovic was mindful of the horrendous tragedy they had suffered and knew they needed some closure.

"It's not within my power to provide you with this type of conclusion or resolution," she told them. She said she had to discharge her duties according to law, irrespective of her feelings or the feelings of others.

Ms Popovic told the Membreys she was badly equipped to try to provide them with any comfort and unfortunately this was not her role nor how she was supposed to perform her job.

Mr Membrey later said outside court that he appreciated Ms Popovic's comments but that he and his wife would not stop until Elisabeth's body was found and she was given the funeral she deserved.

"We have to bring those to account who perpetrated this crime," he said, "and, by golly, we will not give up."

Mrs Membrey: "We will never, ever give up and we want them to know that. They might think they've won today, but we will . . . never give up."

The couple had hoped Dewing might have some answers for them. She left court refusing to respond to questions from the media.

Her barrister, Howard Mason, said Ms Popovic's decision vindicated Dewing's view that she had committed no offence.

The court's decision was a very great relief to her, he said.

The police investigation continues and the $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Ms Membrey's disappearance stands.

The Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions still has the option of ordering that Dewing stand trial.